Alliance for the Study of School Climate (ASSC)

Transformative Education

#1 Rated School Climate Assessment

The ASSC School Climate Assessment Instruments (SCAI) have been rated the most effective school climate surveys. Because of the innovative design, sound theoretical framework and comprehensive content, the SCAI is capable of providing the most clear and usable information about the climate and function level at your school.
Why the SCAI is the most effective

"As consultants coaching schools on real transformation, the SCAI instrument is by far the best tool.

Instruments that use Likert scales do not give enough information and are not practical to the change process. In contrast, the SCAI gives specific information that easily lends itself to developing specific strategies for positive change. Teachers easily understand the results of the survey and feel empowered to make changes once the see the results of the instrument." - DRIVE Consulting

Where is your School On The Effectiveness Roadmap?

The SCAI allows any school to locate itself on the school function and effectiveness "roadmap." The SCAI's effectiveness "roadmap" enables the school to see clearly where they are currently as well as what "moving up" would entail. Roadmap

Why the SCAI is the Most Effective

The analytic structure provides the most reliable assessment of climate and function. You obtain the most accurate, meaningful and usable data possible as the cure is implied in the diagnosis with the SCAI.

It is approved by the US DOE and has been used successfully in over 500 schools.

0.7 correlation with other key success indicators such as student achievement. This is a unique capacity of the SCAI.

Cross-referenceable versions for students, teachers and staff and parents, for both the elementary and secondary levels. All versions are available online or on paper.

Items are grounded in the factors of "psychology of success" so the SCAI provides a clear window into the level of social and emotional learning, pedagogical quality, school culture, and the operating mindset of the school.

When ASSC SCAI School Climate ratings at any school are correlated with the student achievement scores at that school, we find a very strong relationship. As you can see in the scatter plot figure from one data set, when the climate is high, the achievement is high, and when the climate is low the achievement is also low. This degree of correlation (+0.7) is only obtained with the SCAI.

Where is your School On The Effectiveness Roadmap?

Growth Pathway on the Roadmap - SCAI School Climate Ratings, and Corresponding Predicted Achievement Displayed on the Teaching Style Matrix

The ASSC School Assessment System features the unique School Effectiveness Roadmap. The roadmap features include:

The roadmap integrates the features above into one model that is capable of locating the quality of the climate and effectiveness of any school or classroom. Each location on the roadmap implies and can predict a series of elements including a) the intention of the school or classroom, b) the common practices, and c) the results expected on a range of outcomes. Using the roadmap is invaluable for effectively charting a course to a better quality of climate and performance. The book The Transformative Leader's Roadmap to Promoting Progress Up the Growth Pathway and several other resources from ASSC are available to help school leaders provide expert facilitation of their school change effort.

Paragon Learning Style Inventory

The Paragon Learning Style Inventory (PLSI) is a self-administered survey that provides a very reliable indication of learning style and cognitive preference. It uses the four Jungian dimensions (i.e, introversion/ extroversion, intuition/sensation, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving) that are also used by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Murphy Meisgeir Type Indicator, and the Keirsey-Bates Temperament Sorter. But this is the only instrument that can be self-scored and works with ages 9-adult.

What is a Transformative Mindset?

A transformative mindset is simply an intention to do away with the self-limiting references (values, narratives, beliefs, conditioning, etc.) that we are using currently and then opening ourselves to discovering more of the potential within us, our colleagues and our students, and then finding and applying the actions and practices that are most likely to make that happen.

This site includes a growing series of mindfulness resources for teachers.